Tug-loop.



w. rN0RTw TLIG LOOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1916.

1,209,754. I Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

lvweutoz VWLUHMI5-N0RTH attorney WILLIAM B. NORTH, OF LUMBERTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

Application filed May 3, 1916. Serial No. 95,226.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. NORTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lumberton, in the county of Robeson and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tug-Loops, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an improved tug loop and has for its primary object to improve and simplify the construction of tug loops of the character shown and described in my prior Patent, No. 1,138,776, issued to me May 11, 1915, whereby the use of springs and other easily breakable parts which soon lose their effectiveness, is entirely avoided.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved tug loop of the character above referred to, whereby the shaft will be securely and properly supported, but which is so constructed as to permit of the easy and quick removal of the shaft from the loop.

The invention has for an additional obj ect to provide a tug loop embodying a main shaft supporting body bar having a U- shaped portion to provide a seat for the shaft or pole, a latch plate to close the throat or entrance to the seat having an angular portion hingedly connected to one end of the body bar and provided with a buckle for the attachment of a tug strap, the opposite end of said body bar and the latch plate having co-engaging means positively held in connection to close the entrance to the seat by the weight of the shaft or pole and the pull of the belly band connected to said bar.

It is still another object of the invention 7 to provide improved means operatively connected to the latch plate to prevent upward movement of the shaft or pole within the U-shaped seat on the body bar when the latch plate is in its closed position.

It is a further general object of my invention to so improve the construction of tug loops that the same may be rendered highly eflicient and reliable in use, as well as strong and durable and capable of manufacture at relatively small cost.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrange- 'ment of parts to be hereinafter more fully in section, the latch plate being shown in dotted lines in its open position.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 5 designates the body member of my improved tug loop which is formed from a metal bar of requisite thickness and of uniform width throughout its length. This bar is bent to provide an angularly disposed, laterally projecting portion 6, and a short end portion 7 which extends in substantially parallel relation to the relatively long main portion 8 of said bar. At the juncture of this latter portion of the bar with the angular intermediate portion 6 thereof, a bend 9 is formed in the bar which projects below the portion 6 and thereby forms a channel to receive the rectangular loop 10 to which the belly band of the harness, indicated at B, is adapted to be connected. The upper end of the portion 7 of the bar 5 is outwardly bent, as indicated at 11, and then inwardly extended and centrally provided upon its edge with a tongue 12. The extremity of this tongue is substantially in line with the inner face of the portion 7 of the body bar so that it willoffer no 010- same width as the body bar 5 and is longitudinally curved as shown. One end of this plate has a slight reverse curve and terminates in an inwardly turned sleeve 14: which is adapted to be engaged in the hook 11 on the upper end of the portion 7 of the body member. This reversely curved end portion of the latch plate is further provided with an opening 15 to receive the tongue or projection 12 on the hook 11. Upon the other end of the latch plate 13, an angularly projecting arm 16 is formed, and at the juncture of this arm with the latch plate the plate is bent into'cylindrical form to provide a sleeve 17 therein. This sleeve receives one end of the frame of a buckle 18 which is straight throughout its length and of elongated rectangular form 1n plan. To this buckle, the tug strap S is adapted to be connected in the usual manner. The extremity of the angular arm ,15 on the end of the latch plate is pivotally connected to the upper end of the portion 8 of the body bar. The upper end of this portion 8 of the body member is formed with a knuckle to coincide with spaced knuckles on the end of the arm 16, and these knuckles receive the end portions of a rod 19, said rod serving as a pivot or pintle for connecting the latch plate to the body member 5. The rod 19 has its medial portion disposed through the sleeve 14: on the free end of the latch plate 13. From the opposite end of this central portion of the rod, t is red is extended on opposite sides of the tug in parallel relation first clownwardly and then inwardly to provide stops indicated at 20, which are disposed immediately over the pole or shaft P when the latch plateis in its closed position.

The vertical portion 8 of the body bar 5 is bent to provide a channel or groove 21 for the reception of the sleeve 1% on the end of the latch plate when said plate is swung to its open position as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

From reference to Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be noted that the belly hand ring or loop 10 is disposed closely contiguous to the vertical back or rear portion 8 of the body member 5 and the pole or shaft P is supported on the seat 6 entirely upon one side of this vertical portion 8 of the bar and sub stantially in line with the tug loop or buckle 18 at its point of connection to the latch plate. The center of gravity being thus lo cated, it will be apparent that the downward )ressure upon the body member tends to swing the arm 16 to a straight vertical position in line with the buckle, thereby throwing the free end of the latch plate outwardly and maintaining the same in locked engage ment with the lug on the hooked terminal 11 of the body bar. The belly band being connected to the loop 10, also acts by the pull upon the body member at the lower end of the portion 8 to hold the latch plate in its closed position. lVhile the latch plate is closed, the portions 20 of the rod 19 are dis posed immediately over the shaft or pole P so that in traveling over rough roads, the pole P cannot move upwardly in the seat member 5 and strike the latch plate 13. Thus, wear upon the shaft and possibility of the release of the same from the tug loop is eliminated. This stop device is especially desirable when the loop is constructed of comparatively light material. When very heavy material is used, the stop may be eliminated if desired, in order to reduce the manufacturing cost to a minimum.

In order to open the tug loop, the shaft or pole is raised slightly and the latch plate swung inwardly toward the portion 8 of the body bar so as to position the latch plate as seen in dotted lines, with its terminal sleeve 14 engaged in the channel 21 of the body member. Thus, there is a free and unobstructed space through which the pole or shaft maybe lifted and removed from the loop. When the latch plate is thus moved to its open position, the stop rod 19 of course moves with said plate, and as the shaft holds the loop away from the side of the horse, there will be no interference with this lat eral swinging movement 'of the stop rod. It will be understood that, ordinarily, there is no frictional contact of the rod 19 upon the shaft so that the shaft will not be worn thereby.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the new and improved features of my tug loop will be fully and clearly understood. The ring or loop 10 for the connection of the belly bandmay be very easily and quickly engaged upon the body member or removed therefrom by inserting the same downvardly over the end portion 7 of said memher and then inwardly over the seat 6 into the bend 9 provided in the bar at the back side of the loop. The device as a whole is exceedingly simple in its construction, and it will be appreciated that by the elimination of the use of all springs or other similar holding elements which soon lose their efficiency, the device is rendered extremely durable and serviceable in practical use. The tug loop can, of course, be constructed in various sizes and is also susceptible of many modifications in the form, proportion and arrangement of its several structural features, and I, therefore, reserve the privilege of adopting all such legitimate changes as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. F or instance, the body member 5 and the latch plate 13 may be formed of Wire rods, and the stop rod 19 connected to the free end of the latch rod substantially as shown in the drawing, but operating between the vertical parallel wires of the body member in the swinging movement of the latch plate, the side arms of the latch member being convergently disposed to the free end of said latch member so that the same may pass rearwardly between the spaced vertical portions of the body wire. It is thought that this obvious modification will be readily understood so that its illustration in the drawing is not required more than already appears in the position of the stop rod in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is 1. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, and a latch plate pivotally connected to said seat above the seat base and provided with a tug strap connection, the center of gravity of the shaft being substantially in line With said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same.

2. A tug loop comprising a. seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, and a latch plate pivotally connected at one of its ends to said seat above the seat base and provided with a tug strap connection intermediate of its ends and in spaced relation to the pivot, the center of gravity of the shaft being wholly upon one side of the pivot and substantially in line with said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same.

3. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, a latch plate pivotally connected to said seat and provided with a tug strap connection, the center of gravity of the shaft being substantially in line with said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same, and means movable with the pivoted latch plate and disposed over the shaft when the latch plate is in a closed position to prevent vertical movement of the shaft in the seat and its contact with the latch plate.

4:. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, a latch plate pivotally connected to said seat and provided with a tug strap connection, the center of gravity of the shaft being substantially in line with said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same, and means connected to the free end of the latch plate and movable therewith to a position immediately above the shaft when the latch plate is in closed position to prevent vertical movement of th shaft in the seat and its engagement with the latch plate.

5. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, a latch plate pivotally connected to said seat and provided with a tug strap connection, the center of gravity of the shaft being substantially in line with said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same, and a stop rod pivoted at one end and connected to the free end of the latch plate for movement therewith to a position immediately above the shaftwhen the latch plate is closed to prevent vertical movement of the shaft and its engagement with the latch plate.

6. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, a latch plate pivotally connected to said seat and provided with a tug strap connection, the center of gravity of the shaft being substantially in line with said strap connection to maintain the latch plate in position across the entrance throat and close the same, and a rod having its medial portion connected to the free end of the latch plate and movable with the latch plate to a position immediately above the shaft to prevent a so vertical movement of the shaft into engagement with the latch plate.

8. A tug loop comprising a seat for the shaft having an entrance throat, a movable latch plate mounted upon the seat and held in its closed position across the entrance throat by the weight of the shaft, and a piv oted element operatively connected to the latch plate for movement therewith and adapted to be disposed immediately above the shaft when the latch plate is in its closed position to prevent a vertical movement of the shaft into engagement with the latch plate.

9. A tug loop comprising a seat member of U-shaped form having end portions of relatively different lengths, a latch plate having an angularly disposed arm on one end pivotally mounted upon one of the end portions of the seat member, a tug strap buckle connected to the latch plate at the juncture of said arm with the body portion of the plate, and co-engaging means on the other end of the seat member and the free end of the latch plate, the center of gravity of the shaft being disposed substantially in a vertical line, With the tug strap buckle whereby the latch plate is held in its closed position in engagement with the latter end of the seat member.

10. A tug loop comprising a seat member consisting of a U-shaped metal bar having end portions of relatively diflerent lengths and a horizontal connecting portion upon which the shaft is adapted to seat, said 115 bar being provided at the juncture of said seat portion with the longer end portion with means to receive a belly band loop, a latch plate pivotally connected at one end to the longer end of the seat member and mov- 120 able between the opposed portions of the U- shaped bar, the other end of said seat member being provided with means for latching engagement with the free end of said plate, and a tug strap buckle connected to the latch 125 plate in spaced relation to its pivot, whereby the latch plate is held in its closed position between the ends of the seat member by the weight of the shaft.

11. A tug loop comprising a U-shaped 130 seat member having end portions of relatively diflerent lengths and provided with means at the inner end of the longer end portion of said member to receive a belly band, a latch plate having an angular arm on one end pivotally connected to the extremity of the longer end of the seat member and movable between the opposed portions of the U-shaped bar, the other end of said seat member being formed withan inwardly projecting latch lug and the free end of the latch platehaving an opening therein to receive said lug, and a tug strap buckle connected to the latch plate at the inner end of the angular arm thereon, said latch plate swinging with respect to the buckle under the weight of the shaft engaged in the seat member whereby the free end of the latch plate is maintained in engagement with the lug.

12. A tug loop comprising a seat member consisting of a U-shaped bar, a belly band ring operatively engaged upon said bar at the inner end of one of its end portions, a latch plate pivotally mounted at one of its ends upon the latter end portion of the seat member and movable between the opposed portions of the U-shaped bar, the other end of the seat member being provided with latch means engageable by the free end of the latch plate when the latter is in its closed position, and a tug strap buckle connected to the latch plate in spaced relation to its pivoted end, said latch plate swinging with respect to the buckle under the weight of the shaft disposed in the seat member, whereby the latch plate is maintained in its closed position between the ends of said seat member, the first named end portion of the seat member being formed with a channel to receive the free end of the latch plate when the same is swung inwardly to an open position to permit of the removal of the shaft.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM B. NORTH.

Witnesses:

E. A. NORTH, M. L. NORTH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

